1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer network management, and more specifically, to the remote monitoring of switch networks for purposes of facilitating management of such networks.
2. Brief Description of Related Prior Art
Data communication in a computer network involves data exchange between two or more entities interconnected by communication links and subnetworks. These entities are typically software programs executing on hardware computer platforms, such as endstations and intermediate stations. Examples of an intermediate station may be a router or switch which interconnects the communication links and subnetworks to enable trans-mission of data between the endstations. A local area network (LAN) is an example of a subnetwork that provides relatively short distance communication among the interconnected stations, whereas a wide area network enables long distance communication over links provided by public or private telecommunications facilities.
Communication software executing on the endstations correlate and manage data communication with other endstations. The stations typically communicate by exchanging discrete packets or frames of data according to predefined protocols. In this context, a protocol consists of a set of rules defining how the stations interact with each other. In addition, network routing software executing on the routers allow expansion of communication to other endstations. Collectively, these hardware and software components comprise a communications network and their interconnections are defined by an underlying architecture.
Modern communications network architectures are typically organized as a series of hardware and software levels or “layers” within each station. These layers interact to format data for transfer between, e.g., a source station and a destination station communicating over the network. Predetermined services are performed on the data as it passes through each layer and the layers communicate with each other by means of the predefined protocols. The lower layers of these architectures are generally standardized and are typically implemented in hardware and firmware, whereas the higher layers are generally implemented in the form of software running on the stations attached to the network. An example of such a communications architecture is the Internet communications architecture.
The Internet architecture is represented by five layers which are termed, in ascending interfacing order, physical interface, data link, network, transport and application layers. These layers are arranged to form a protocol stack in each communicating station of the network. FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of prior art Internet protocol stacks 125 and 175 used to transmit data between a source station 110 and a destination station 150, respectively, of a network 100. As can be seen, the stacks 125 and 175 are physically connected through a communications channel 180 at the interface layers 120 and 160. For ease of description, the protocol stack 125 will be described.
In general, the lower layers of the communications stack provide internetworking services and the upper layers, which are the users of these services, collectively provide common network application services. The application layer 112 provides services suitable for the different types of applications using the network, while the lower interface layer 120 accepts industry standards defining a flexible network architecture oriented to the implementation of LANs.
Specifically, the interface layer 120 comprises the physical interface layer 126, to which is concerned with the actual transmission of signals across the communication channel and defines the types of cabling, plugs and connectors used in connection with the channel. The data link layer (i.e., “layer 2”) 121 is responsible for transmission of data from one station to another and may be further divided into two sublayers: Logical Link Control (LLC 122) and Media Access Control (MAC 124).
The MAC sublayer 124 is primarily concerned with controlling access to the transmission medium in an orderly manner and, to that end, defines procedures by which the stations must abide in order to share the medium. In order for multiple stations to share the same medium and still uniquely identify each other, the MAC sublayer defines a hardware or data link address called a MAC address. This MAC address is unique for each station interfacing to a LAN. The LLC sublayer 122 provides communications services between devices in the network.
The primary network layer protocol of the Internet architecture is the Internet protocol (IP) contained within the network layer 116 (i.e., “layer 3”). IP is a network protocol that provides network routing and that relies on transport protocols for end-to-end reliability. An example of such a transport protocol is the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) contained within the transport layer 114. The term TCP/IP is commonly used to refer to the Internet architecture. (See, e.g., Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, Third Ed., Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle, River, N.J., 1996).
Data transmission over the network 100 therefore consists of generating data in, e.g., sending process 104 executing on the source station 110, passing that data to the application layer 112 and down through the layers of the protocol stack 125, where the data are sequentially formatted as a frame for delivery onto the channel 180 as bits. Those frame bits are then transmitted over an established connection of channel 180 to the protocol stack 175 of the destination station 150 where they are passed up that stack to a receiving process 174. Data flow is schematically illustrated by solid arrows.
Although actual data transmission occurs vertically through the stacks, each layer is programmed as though such transmission were horizontal. That is, each layer in the source station 110 is programmed to transmit data to its corresponding layer in the destination station 150, as schematically shown by dotted arrows. To achieve this effect, each layer of the protocol stack 125 in the source station 110 typically adds information (in the form of a header) to the data generated by the sending process as the data descends the stack.
For example, the network layer encapsulates data presented to it by the transport layer within a packet having a network layer header. The network layer header contains, among other information, source and destination (logical) network addresses needed to complete the data transfer. The data link layer, in turn, encapsulates the packet in a frame that includes a data link layer header containing information required to complete the data link functions, such as (physical) MAC addresses. At the destination station 150, these encapsulated headers are stripped off one-by-one as the frame propagates up the layers of the stack 175 until it arrives at the receiving process.
A router is a conventional intelligent intermediate station that implements network services such as route processing, path determination and path switching functions. The router also provides interfaces for a wide range of communication links and subnetworks. The route processing function allows a router to determine the type of routing needed for a packet, whereas the path switching function allows a router to accept a packet on one interface and forward it on a second interface. The path determination, or forwarding decision, function enables the router to select the most appropriate interface for forwarding a packet.
A switch is another conventional type of intermediate network station that provides the basic functions of a bridge, including filtering of data traffic by MAC address, “learning” and forwarding of the frame based on information contained in the data link (MAC) header. One conventional network switching technique involves forming a cascaded switch network by coupling multiple physical switches together via suitable bus connection links (which may comprise additional circuitry), and programming the switches' internal control and forwarding circuitry (switch network management, bridge forwarding, etc. circuitry) so as to permit the switches to operate, in essence, from the viewpoint of network stations external to the switches, as a single virtual switch. One technology for implementing such cascaded switch networks is commercially available from the Assignee of the subject application under the name of Catalyst Matrix™. Such cascaded switch networks will hereinafter be referred to as “stacked switches” or “switches in a stacked configuration.”
It is also typical for a computer data network to include network management facilities. One well-known conventional protocol facilitating such management is provided by the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). According to the SNMP, network management is performed at network management station or stations which execute management processes that communicate with SNMP agent processes executing on managed network nodes. Each agent process maintains a local database of variables that describe its state and history, and affect its operation. These variables are called “objects,” and the collection of possible objects in a network station/node is comprised in a data structure called the Management Information Base (MIB). The management station or stations manage the network by using the SNMP to query the agents for the states of their respective local objects and/or to command the agents to change the states of their respective local objects.
SNMP agents determine the states of a portion of their respective local objects to report to the management processes based upon data generated and/or received by the respective nodes being monitored by those agents (hereinafter referred to as “raw data”). The amount of network system processing bandwidth consumed by SNMP agents in analyzing such raw data to determine the states of their respective local objects can be significant. Thus, in order to increase the amount of network system processing bandwidth that is devoted to processing of tasks that are of primary importance to the network (e.g., processing and forwarding of user data messages), it is desirable to reduce or eliminate the need for certain network components' (e.g., network switches') SNMP agents to gather and process such raw data. This can be accomplished by offloading the tasks required to make such determinations to separate network entities (e.g., remote monitoring (RMON) probes) specially designed to carry out such tasks. These special RMON entities monitor operation of network components and determine the states of their respective local objects for the components based upon raw data obtained by such monitoring, which local objects may be reported to management processes. Alternatively, the entities may gather the raw data from the network components being monitored, and may report the gathered raw data (and/or statistical information generated therefrom) to the management processes. The raw data, objects, and/or statistical information reported by such RMON entities to network management processes is hereinafter collectively and/or separately referred to as “network management-related information.”
Such specialized network entities may be used to gather and process raw data from stacked switches. For example, in one conventional monitoring arrangement, each switch in the stacked configuration may be coupled to a respective RMON probe. The probes may gather appropriate raw data (e.g., packets received and/or transmitted from switch ports of the stacked switches), and provide to network management processes network management-related information from the raw data.
Unfortunately, the RMON probes used in the aforedescribed conventional stacked switch monitoring arrangement typically are quite expensive. Thus, in order to reduce cost, it has been proposed to minimize the number of such probes used in the network. For example, in another conventional stacked switch monitoring arrangement, only a single RMON probe is employed, and the single probe is directly coupled to only one of the stacked switches. Raw data from switches in the stacked configuration that are not directly coupled to the probe is transmitted to the switch that is directly coupled to the probe via any intervening switches and bus link connections in the stack. Unfortunately, the transmission of raw data via intervening switches and bus link connections may consume a substantial amount of stacked switch communications bandwidth. Disadvantageously, this can degrade the performance of the stacked switches.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a stacked switch monitoring technique that permits efficient offloading of raw data processing from the stacked switches, requires only a minimal number of specialized network entities to gather and process such raw data, and does not result in substantial degradation of stacked switch performance.